Series Three: The Rewrite
by kokomo234
Summary: How I think that Series 3 of Sherlock should go.
1. Chapter 1

**Sherlock Series 3 Episode 0: The Prologue**

You all know that I am known for writing fanfics for Glee, right? Well not this time. I have recently become acquainted with the amazingness that is Sherlock.

(To be completely honest, I blame it all on Tumblr) (Shut up)

So I have been thinking about a different take, an early take actually, on what I want to happen (she knows that it isn't going to happen) on series three of Sherlock.

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**Page Line (Esmeralda Thompson)**

**Friday, November 13, 2013**

**9 AM**

It had just let up raining in London, England. The cold was going to take some getting used to after the warmth and sunniness that was Melbourne. I was looking outside of the cab's window and practically shaking in anticipation of what was going to come soon.

I got to meet the amazing Sherlock Holmes. Of course I had read about him and heard his name, some things good, other not so much, but I didn't let them phase me. I was way too excited.

At the young age of twenty-six, I had already had a promising career and a bright future ahead of me. I just wanted to know more about this illustrious Mr. Holmes. I couldn't have used one of our many Private Detectives to look him up, maybe have him even ask some questions, but this was something that I had to do myself.

I had to uncover a mystery that was bigger than anything that I've had to do before.

I was basically the controller of a very important organization. We can both help and hurt people at the same time. I, of course, cannot tell you the name of this organization because it doesn't have one. We do everything and anything that we can get our hands on.

We're very territorial and don't appreciate people taking things that belong to us.

Like Sherlock Holmes.

If only he knew what I was coming here for, he would be shocked.

Mr. Holmes has to get ready for a very bumpy ride.

**Page Line (John Watson)**

**That Same Day**

**9:30 AM**

It was cloudy outside today but I decided to come to Baker Street anyways to make sure that Mrs. Hudson was doing ok. She seemed very lost without Sherlock around to fuss over.

As I was contemplating moving back into Baker Street, I heard a cab pull next to the pavement. I didn't think anything of it, so I continued to unlock the door and shouting Mrs. Hudson's name.

"Excuse me?" I heard a voice behind me ask. It was a girl, no more than 5'2" with long black hair that had think streaks of blonde in it. "Is this," she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket, "221b Baker Street?" I stared at her for a second puzzled and then nodded in response.

"Oh." She stuck out her hand. "Esmeralda Thompson." She sounded like she was from Austrailia.

"Dr. John Watson." I reached out my hand and shook it. I took note that she had a tattoo of a heart on her wrist. I wonder what that meant.

"I know." The last time I heard that I was basically kidnapped by Mycroft. It had begun to rain, and fearing for the state of her luggage, I invited her inside.

**Page Line (John)**

It was no different than when I left.

"Here, take a seat." I pointed to the couch and she sat down gingerly placing her bags right next to her feet. "Do you want some tea? Water?"

"No thank you. I had something on the plane." Esmeralda was taking a look around the flat.

"So…what brings you to London? It can't be the weather." I cracked a small smile at my attempt at humor. Luckily she smiled.

"I was sent here by my father to study under Sherlock Holmes. Do you know where he is?" She sounded so innocent, but I still felt as if I had been sucker punched. Of course she wouldn't know, she lived on a different continent.

"Sherlock's-" I felt my throat close up and the familiar sting of tears behind my eyes as I brought his name up. "Dead. He committed suicide a while back."

"Oh." She nodded her head. "I'm not going to say anything superficial like, 'I'm sorry for your loss' considering I haven't known him myself."

"That's fine." I responded. "That's really fine."

**Page Line (Esmeralda)**

**The Same Day**

So Elden didn't do his job. Either that or he was dead. I'm going to have to look at my records to check.

"Then there's no reason why a good internship should go to waste. How about I study under you?" I saw Dr. Watson's eyes widen comically. "You know, show me what you do?" I phrased it as a question although I knew the answer was already going to be yes. I knew from experience how to tell a person was going to answer a certain question.

"Why?"

"I can't exactly learn anything from a dead man can I? So why not just learn what you do." I saw the beginnings of a smile on his lips.

"I think that can be arranged."

**Page Line (Esmeralda)**

**The Same Day**

**10:30 PM**

I was scrolling through the records from my laptop before I even glanced at the time. 10:31 pm. It blinked at me ominously in the otherwise dark and quiet hotel room.

I've been at the hotel since I left the flat that was once the residence of Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson and was searching for Elden Jacobs, one of my many field operatives. I heard a grumble in my stomach and thought that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get something to eat form a restaurant.

I closed my laptop and placed it on the charger. I stood up and stretched out my muscles because I had been cramped up in the same position on the bed since I had arrived. I went to the bathroom to refresh my makeup and fix up my hair when I heard a knock on the door.

I walked over and stood on a stool so I could be able to see into the peephole. I saw no one in the hallway and my defenses were immediately on high alert. I unbolted the door and opened it looking both ways when I heard something fall and a gust of air rush past my foot. I looked down and saw a pretty large box, not uncommon for me to get. I grabbed it and went back into my room deciding that food was more important than whatever Sebastian wanted from me was could wait.

I grabbed my bubble coat and my wallet and walked out of my room and subsequently the hotel to go and find something to eat. Deciding that Chinese wasn't such a bad idea, I heard footsteps right behind me. I stopped, the person's stopped. I could tell that it was a man's tread because it was heavier and the person sounded a lot taller than six feet.

I automatically knew who it was.

"Mr. Holmes, you couldn't have just called me." I turned around and came face to face with icy blue green eyes and quirked my brow at him.

"Couldn't take the risk." He was a lot skinnier than my first meeting with him shortly before his "fall".

"I can tell that you haven't been eating lately."

"Too busy." I hummed and gave him another look. Seriously, you'd think that he was the twenty-six year old instead of me. "Fine, I'm worried. What happens if he hates me?"

"I understand when I was trying to teach you more about human emotion, but you are behaving like a teenaged girl with a crush. Dr. Watson won't hate you. Trust me. I only spent an half of an hour with him, and I could tell how much he misses you."

Mr. Holmes seemed content with that information. "Why are you in London?"

"I'm supposed to be studying under you, but you're dead and it can't exactly work out now can it."

I felt his eyes on me and continued to walk down the street.

"I can tell that isn't the real reason!" He shouted at me. I continued my walk knowing that he wouldn't follow me for the sake of being noticed and heard him walk back into the direction of the Safe House.

Of course, he was right. He always is.

I wasn't here to study under him. I was here to fix things up.

Because Moriarty screwed up.

And I have to clear Sherlock Holmes's name.

**Page Line **

All done with the prologue!

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	2. Episode 1 Part 1

Sherlock Series 3 Episode 1: Welcome Home Mr. Holmes (Part 1)

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So I'm back for another chapter! *Cue cheers from an arena the size of a football stadium* Thank you to all of the people who have read it and enjoyed it.

Ummm…I normally talk way more than this in my author's notes. Oh well. Enjoy the story!

I noticed that in the last chapter I had put **Friday, November 13, 2013. **I'm going to fix this, I swear. I was looking at my September calendar.

**Page Line (Esmeralda)**

**Friday, November 15, 2013**

**11 AM**

It was a pretty nippy morning so I decided to wear a pair of my favourite skinny jeans and a button down top. I was just leaving Speedy's, the restaurant right next to 221B, with a cup of coffee in my hand because I had just seen Dr. Watson leaving a cab. I smirked at his arrival. It was showtime.

"Good morning Dr. Watson." I looked him in the eyes and took in his appearance; he was tired, apparently he hadn't slept well the night before, maybe even for a while taking in the dark circles that were underneath them. Dr. Watson was leaning heavily on his left leg meaning that his limp was back but he was refusing to use the cane and his jumper looked like it was a couple of days old and he had a faint stain on his pants that looked like he tried to scrub it off before wearing them again. Dr. Watson also radiated happiness, like there was another reason that he hadn't slept well the night before.

"Good morning Ms. Thompson." He nodded his head at me and reached out his hand.

"Esmeralda." I shook his hand with a firm grip. I could tell he was surprised by my strength.

"John." I smirked. It was cute the way that he offered for me to call him by his first name.

"I don't think so." I motioned in the direction of the cab that was idling at the curb. "Shall we?"

Dr. Watson nodded his head and opened the door to the cab so I could get in.

**Page Line**

**The Same Day**

**1 PM**

Dr. Watson was a pretty headstrong guy. Either that or he was working extra hard so he wouldn't have to think about Mr. Holmes. It was sometime after 1 o'clock in the afternoon and he hadn't even stopped to eat lunch yet. If he doesn't eat in a half hour, then I'm going to get him something from the little café that I saw around the corner and give him the option of eating it himself or I'm going to force feed it to him. He needs to build up his strength now so he can use it when I need him later.

A knock stopped my train of thought. "Ms. Thompson? Dr. Watson wants you to meet him at St. Bart's. There's a cab waiting for you outside."

"Thank you." She had light blonde hair and sounded lovely. Maybe if she was a little younger I would recruit her. I frowned to myself. _She looks to innocent to be a part of what we do._

I furrowed my brow as I gathered my mobile, tablet, and wallet. _That's strange. I've never had that thought before._

I shook my head as if I were shaking my thoughts out of my head and walked out of the office.

And apparently I was on my way to see Molly Hooper.

**Page Line (Molly Hooper)**

**The Same Day**

**2:30 PM**

She looked…kind of scary actually.

Her eyes were a piercing grey colour, not like _his_, but more terrifying. Her eyes looked like she wanted to be the one to put the body on one of the slabs.

"Molly Hooper." I plastered a smile on my face, no matter how fake it seemed, and stuck my hand out so that she could shake it.

"Esmeralda Thompson." Her smiled seemed genuine although her eyes were cool and calculating. Her grip was very firm and a little on the bone crushing side as well. She let go of my hand and I had a strange feeling like I was being dismissed.

"Ok then," I said a little too perkily. "Where should we start?" She gave the lab a small look around and her eyes landed on something that was on a shelf. I followed her gaze and saw a riding crop.

Not just _a_ riding crop, _the _riding crop.

"Why do you keep sex toys in your laboratories?" I felt my face grow hot and opened my mouth to say something else. "Never mind, the use is obvious." She walked over to the shelf and grabbed it and turning it around in her small hands. Esmeralda mimed hitting something with it and smiled to herself.

"Do you want a tour?" I have no idea why John wanted me to keep her company until he got here.

"No thank you. I already have the layout memorized." She had started to peek around the chemicals and lab equipment that was lying around.

"Good afternoon Molly!" I heard John say from the doors and I nearly slumped over in relief. I haven't even spent five minutes alone in a room with her and she was making me like I felt out of place; like I was intruding on her property.

"Good afternoon John." I gave him a look, trying to communicate every feeling that I had at this moment. I saw the subtle nod of his head that meant we were going to talk later.

"Hello, Dr. Watson." Her eyes trained themselves on him. "Why exactly are we here? Not to be rude." She meant that last part to me.

"I needed to know that you knew your way around and I thought that it would be a good idea for you to meet Molly. Besides, I needed to talk to Stamford."

She nodded her head up in acknowledgement.

"Shall we go out for lunch then?"

**Page Line (Esmeralda)**

**The Same Day**

**4 PM**

It was a little after four o'clock when my phone rang. I rolled my eyes knowing exactly who it was because he was the only person who called me. And sure enough, as I looked at the caller ID, it was SH. I pressed the answer button with a hint of annoyance.

"What do you want now?"

"I want information. I've been under your protection for three years now and you haven't told me a thing!"

"And I've been telling you every day for three years that I will tell you in due time." It was no bother yelling back at Sherlock Holmes because it's like talking to a brick wall. "You will know soon. Anyways, it's almost Showtime."

"How are we going to do this?" I can tell that I've side tracked him, but only for a little while. "I can't just waltz up and say 'Hey! I'm not dead! You're three years of grieving were for no reason!'"

"Mr. Holmes, calm down. Just like your spilt second suicide plan, I have your big return all planned out. Think of it as a coming out party, but with corpses."

"But I'm not gay."

"I really want to make a pun but I'm going to have you make this one out for yourself. Goodbye Mr. Holmes, everything that you need to know will be revealed in due time, just leave it all to me."

I ended the phone call before he could ask anymore questions and put the phone on the hotel bed.

_I really need to get a flat. Speaking of flat._

I picked the phone back up and called Lana, one of my Smugglers here in London.

"Ms. Thompson."

"Lana, how is the security detail on Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Molly Hooper, and Greg Lestrade?"

"Pretty tight ma'am. No one can slip through, it's very airtight."

"Thank you."

"Your welcome."

I still had more calls to make.

**Page Line (John Watson)**

**The Same Day**

**6 PM**

I was in my girlfriends flat.

We'd been together for little over year now and I could tell that she was waiting for the big question. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Mary couldn't replace the person who meant the most to me in the whole world. She was pretty close though.

"John! Do you want some tea?" She shouted from the kitchen.

"That would be nice, thank you." I said back.

It was a peaceful evening. After about two weeks of solid rain, it had finally let up leaving the sky clear and the air crisp and clean. The streetlights were shining through the windows and it was actually nice.

"Here you go." She was pretty. With long blonde hair and slightly tanned skin from her Italian roots. Her eyes were a piercing green colour and she had a bright white smile. She was also shorter than me; 160 cm at the tallest.

"Thank you." She just smiled in return.

"So how's that girl you're mentoring? Isabella?" Mary was fussing with the flowers in one of the vases in the flat.

"Her name is Esmeralda. And she's…strange to say the least."

"What do you mean?" She had stopped messing with the flowers and had sat down next to me on the couch.

"She seems like she knows more than she is letting on."

"Like she's keeping secrets?"

"Yes. Like she knows some funny joke and can't tell me because I wouldn't understand it."

"So like…"

She had trailed off. We both knew exactly who she was talking about. I had ducked my head down and zeroed in on a loose thread that was on the sleeve of my jumper.

"A little bit." Mary had rested her head against my shoulder in reassurance. She knew how hard it was for me to adjust after the…fall.

"It's ok." She looked up at me and smiled. My phone had beeped from the coffee table. Mary had reached over to get it.

"It's a text message from an unknown number. Do you want me to delete it?"

"No. Let me see." She handed the phone over and I opened the message.

_Meet me at this location tomorrow night at 7_

_-E. Thompson_

There was a picture attached to the message and it was the restaurant that I had met Sebastian at.

"I have a meeting tomorrow night at seven."

"It's that late in the evening?"

"It's a dinner meeting. Over what, I don't know."

"I thought that we were going to my mother's for dinner tomorrow evening?"

"Oh." I had completely forgotten about that. "Can we reschedule?"

The look on her face would have been hilarious if it weren't directed at me.

"I'm sorry that was rude."

"Yes it was."

"It's just…it's Esmeralda. She wants to meet me for dinner."

"Why?" She looked strange. I had never seen her give anybody that look ever.

"I don't know."

"Fine, have it that way." She moved from the couch to the chair that was opposite and looked at the TV. I sighed knowing that it was going to take a lot of grovelling to make this up to her.

**Page Line (Sherlock Holmes)**

**The Same Day**

**9:38 PM**

I felt ridiculous in the ginger wig that I was forced to wear in public. I was drumming my fingers against the table impatiently, waiting for Esmeralda. She was late.

"Thank you for meeting me here Mr. Holmes."

"It's my pleasure." Although I had only met her about a half dozen time, she still stumped me. I couldn't figure anything out about her at all.

"Still trying to deduce me I see." She said smugly. I had a feeling that she can tell my current predicament. "And I can tell that it's beginning to agitate you. You should just give up then."

"I never give up."

"Then you should. You're never going to find out anything from me Mr. Holmes, might as well stop trying."

I rolled my eyes at her and focused on the menu that was in front of me.

"How did it go?"

"He agreed. You'll meet him at the restaurant tomorrow night at seven o'clock." I moved my eyes from the menu and directly onto hers.

"And what will happen after that."

"We'll stay at the restaurant until we're done eating and then go to St. Bart's where I'll explain everything to Dr. Watson."

"What about the girlfriend?"

She seemed a little taken aback by the statement."

"What do you mean 'What about the girlfriend?'?"

"Mary. What's going to happen with their…relationship?" The thought of John in a relationship made me a little upset. I didn't harbour any romantic feelings towards him; it was just that I couldn't have someone else take his attention".

"You're afraid that you'll have to compete with Mary over John? You're afraid that you'll ruin their relationship?"

The waiter came to take our orders and we had stopped our conversation to deal with him quickly.

"I've ruined enough of John's relationships already. I can tell that this one makes him really happy."

"And he's close to popping to question." I nodded at Esmeralda's statement and took a sip of water. She gave me that smile that always made me wonder what she was thinking about in her head.

"Don't worry about that Mr. Holmes. Everything is under control."

The smile that she gave me made me a little uneasy.

**Page Line (John)**

**Saturday, November 16, 2013**

**7 PM**

I arrived at the restaurant early and found that she had already set up a reservation and was directed to the table as soon as I was inside. Mary was also with me insisting that she meet Esmeralda.

"It's really nice here. She really went all out." I could hear the skepticism in her voice.

"Yeah she did." I rubbed my lip and remembered the mustache that had grown in the last few months. _Maybe I should shave…_

"Good evening Dr. Watson." I heard Esmeralda come up from behind me.

"Good evening to you too." I saw her eyes go straight to Mary and tensed up. I don't care if she wasn't supposed to be here, I loved her.

"And who is this? I don't think we've ever met."

"This is Mary Douglass." Mary stuck her hand out for Esmeralda to shake. The younger girl just stared at the offered hand and gave her a look.

"I thought I told you to come alone." She directed her gaze at me and I felt like a small child being scolded by their mother.

"Uh…"

"Why am I not allowed be here with him? You just met her John!" Esmeralda's eyes brightened in recognition. I also now saw the thing that seemed off about her yesterday.

She was jealous.

"I can assure you that your boyfriend is not cheating on you. I just wanted to talk with Dr. Watson about something that only concerns him and me."

"I don't trust you two alone." Mary said defensively. This was getting out of hand.

Esmeralda sat down in her chair. "I can safely say that my job doesn't allow me any time to have a significant other and any given point. I don't want a relationship and I certainly don't want children. Now, can we sit down and wait for the fourth member of our party to arrive? He always likes to show up…dramatically."

Mary sat back down in her chair dumbfounded at the new information that was handed to her.

"Wait, fourth?" I asked confused.

"I knew that Mary would come along. I was just testing her. It was a reflex of mine to test how much people can handle before they're pushed off of the edge. It's a bad habit that I need to break." She unfolded the napkin from the table and placed it on her lap.

"You said fourth."

"Yes. He's my…date." I saw her cringe at the choice of words and she took a sip of her water. Her phone beeped from her purse and she turned towards the front of the restaurant as we were sitting in the back.

I followed her gaze and almost wished I hadn't.

**Page Line (Esmeralda)**

**The Same Day**

**7:10 PM**

"Sh-Sherlock, is that you?" I heard Dr. Watson stutter out the name before Mr. Holmes took his seat beside me. He looked a little unsure and uneasy. One of the many benefits of morality I suppose.

Mr. Holmes swallowed heavily. "John."

There was a silence at the table just as I had predicted. Mary was looking between the both of them confused, Dr. Watson was sure that he was just hallucinating, and Mr. Holmes looked uncomfortable.

"How is this possible?" Dr. Watson asked.

"It will be explained after dinner along with the thing that I need both of your help with. Order anything you would like, my treat."

Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes were having a little bit of a staring contest.

"Ms. Douglass, stop gawking at the two of them like they're animals in the zoo. Dr. Watson please close your mouth and shave your lip, it's a bit distracting. Mr. Holmes, you are fine, stop shaking like one of those irritating rat dogs."

All eyes were directed at me. I rolled my eyes, seriously, just because I am younger than them doesn't mean I don't know how to control them.

"How did you do this? Why did you do this?" Dr. Watson asked angrily. His face was bright red.

"Mr. Holmes, don't say a word. Just sit there and look pretty." I turned in the direction of Dr. Watson. "You are aware of James Moriarty?"

"Unfortunately I am."

"He was a bad man, a very bad man. And he did a lot of things that he wasn't supposed to do."

"Like what?" Mr. Holmes asked. I've been keeping a lot of things like this away from him.

"Blowing up those people and stealing the crown jewels. He worked for me. But then he went insane."

"Why?" Mary asked. I forgot that she knew nothing. "He put people's lives in danger!"

"I had heard storied of Mr. Holmes for quite some time at that moment, and wanted to know if any of the whispers were true. So I decided to test him."

"Why would you do that?" Dr. Watson asked.

"Nothing that happened was an accident. I pushed the both of you together. I made sure that Dr. Watson was sent home somehow."

"How can you invalid a soldier without being there?" Dr. Watson asked. I could tell that he was agitated.

"Have people do the dirty work for me. I like keeping my hands clean."

"So you paid someone to shoot me?"

"In short, Yes."

Dr. Watson sat back in exasperation.

"Now stop interrupting me and I could finish the story." When no one said anything I continued. "I had been watching the both of you for quite some time and thought that it would be a great idea to make the two of you a team. With Dr. Watson' level head and Mr. Holmes's impulsiveness, I had a perfect, dynamic duo. I designed all of the cases, from the cabbie to the bombings. But the bombs were fakes, we had no idea that Moriarty had switched them out." I took a drink of water. "Something tipped him over the edge after Ms. Adler. I have no idea what, but he flew off the rails and we couldn't get him back under control. That's what I need your help with. Finding out what Ms. Adler did to make him react the way he had."

"Isn't Irene Adler dead?" Dr. Watson asked.

"No." Mr. Holmes responded the same time that I had said, "Yes."

"I saved her." Mr. Holmes said.

"And I guillotined her." I responded. "She deserved it. She hired an assassin to take me out."

The table was silent as our food arrived at the table. I had placed our orders ahead of time.

"What are we going to do now?" Dr. Watson asked.

"Go to St. Bart's and explain how he survived that "fall"." I used the air quotes and everything.

**Page Line**

**The Same Day**

**11 PM**

It was cool in the lab that I had been in just the day before. The most likely reason being that nobody had been in here since yesterday afternoon.

We had all walked into the room and I had walked over the back where I had stored the whiteboards I had kept all of the information on.

"Please, take a seat. This won't take long, but it'll be a lot to absorb in a limited amount of time." I told them. I had turned around and noticed the Mr. Holmes was sitting as far away from Dr. Watson that was possible in the space that we had. I quirked a single eyebrow at him and turned back around to remove the tarps from the three whiteboards.

"You have three boards? That seems a bit excessive." Mr. Holmes remarked.

I ignored his remark. "The first board is a diagram, the second one is the math, and the third is a list of the resources we used to make it happen."

"This was planned?" Dr. Watson asked.

"No." Mr. Holmes said. "I didn't know about it until I hit the ground."

"We knew of Moriarty plans, we didn't know he was going to kill himself." I rolled my eyes at that thought. "He was going to use Mr. Holmes's morality against him."

"He did what?" Dr. Watson asked.

"He threatened to kill you, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade if I didn't kill myself." Mr. Holmes responded. Dr. Watson sat back in his chair and shut his eyes.

"So that thing with Mrs. Hudson-"

"-Was a ploy devised by Moriarty."

"The only part that we interfered with was the biker." I told him. "We had to distract you somehow."

"How did it happen?" Dr. Watson asked. "How was Sherlock able to survive?"

I pointed to the second whiteboard.

"Let me take you through it."

**Page Line (Sherlock)**

_**Flashback**_

Moriarty was right. Falling was just like flying.

It would sound weird later, but I felt like I was free. I felt like I could run a million miles an hour, jump over any tall building.

I felt invincible.

There was light, and then there was nothing. There was just darkness.

And I felt kind of disappointed that it didn't last longer.

When I hit the ground, I was surprised. It felt softer than what it was supposed to. I felt something warm flow onto my cheeks and into my hair and a soft hand (female, obviously) grab my wrist. There was also a sharp pain in my arm.

Dying didn't feel like I thought it would.

"Everything will be explained later." A voice told me. It was lightly accented and had a higher register, probably a young female from Australia. "Just open your eyes." So I did what the voice told me too.

I couldn't see anything, but I could tell that my eyes were open. I was also losing my ability to hear. I felt my heartbeat slowing. _Was I dying? Is this what dying felt like?_

Just before I went unconscious, I heard a voice that was tinged with grief and felt a hand on my wrist.

"No, please God no." I felt my blood run cold. It was John.

The last words that echoed in my mind were chilling.

_Caring is not an advantage, Sherlock._

And I never knew how true they were until that moment.

**Page Line (Esmeralda)**

**The Same Day**

**11:25 PM**

"Then I woke up two days later in a room somewhere in Manchester. I don't remember much about that day, but the next morning I was taken to London to see my funeral. To see if everyone was still ok." Mr. Holmes concluded.

I couldn't tell what the expression on Dr. Watson's face was. It was difficult to decipher him; usually he's an open book, he wears his heart on his sleeve.

"You expect him to believe that?" Mary asked. She was really beginning to bother me. I knew that if she came along she would cause problems. "After all that he went through, you want him to believe this ridiculous story that you just…came up with?" She nearly shouted.

"Yes. In fact I do expect him to believe that because I haven't misled Dr. Watson thus far." I said. She sat down, but glared at me the entire time.

"What did you give him? And what was the ground made out of to break his fall?" Dr. Watson said quietly.

"It was a paralytic that we invented that simulates death. It gives the illusion of someone being dead. We bring the body to a morgue saying that it has already been autopsied and that they should keep it because there is family in the area. It can't be found anywhere else and can be taken in pill, soluble, or be injected by needle."

"What is it called?" Dr. Watson asked.

"Like most of our inventions, it doesn't have a name."

"What about the concrete then?" Mary asked snottily. _She really needs to butt out of things that don't have anything to do with her._

"We replaced the section that he landed on with a sort of spongy material. It's difficult to explain, but it has helped with numerous needs to get out of trouble."

"How did you do that?" Mary asked still being irritating.

"He saw the truck." I said.

The room was quiet. I was looking over my work with a small sense of pride. It was really beautiful considering the fact that we had twelve hours of planning

"That's amazing." Dr. Watson said. "You really didn't know about anything did you Sherlock? You were really going to die for us?"

"You may think that I am incapable of caring, but I do feel things. Feelings don't help you, they hurt you. I've learned not to get too attached to people, but John, you were different. I wanted to protect you because you've already gone through Hell. You didn't deserve anything after Afghanistan."

"Very heartfelt Sherlock, but you still lied." Mary said.

I took a deep breath. "Ms. Douglass. I've dealt with your…outer musings all evening, and now I would like for you to close your mouth; you're beginning to agitate me. I've been trying to explain what had happened this past year, and you haven't allowed either one of us to explain why things had gone the way that they did. Unless you wouldn't have liked to meet your boyfriend, I suggest that you shut your pretty mouth and leave all of the talking to me, k?"

She was gaping like a fish. I felt oddly satisfied at her reaction and allowed her to stay that way.

"It doesn't matter now that the three of them are safe and sound."

"Speaking of Lestrade, does he know about…this?" Dr. Watson gestured around the room. I could feel him opening up more after the initial shock had worn off.

"No. But Dr. Watson, I was expecting more of a reaction out of you." I admitted.

"Like me doing what?" He asked.

"I don't know, like punching Mr. Holmes in the face or something cool and action packed like that." _Calm down your inner Vin Diesel is showing again._

"I'll probably do that later." He smiled. It was the first genuine smile that I've seen since watching him this past year. I looked over at Mr. Holmes and saw that he was smiling back. I looked towards him and quirked an eyebrow trying to convey the fact that he had nothing to worry about, everything was ok.

"Does my brother know anything about this?" Mr. Holmes asked when the silence was beginning to lengthen.

"He actually helped."

There were shocked looks from both Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes.

"He had contacted me shortly after Ms. Riley's expose'. Mr. Holmes the senior had told me that he had made a mistake and needed my help in any way that was possible." I saw the look on Mr. Holmes' face. "He actually does care about you. He only told Moriarty everything because he threatened to kill you."

"And he did."

"Well he kind of did. Technically, I killed you."

He had done that small trademark Sherlock Holmes smirk that was beginning to grow on me.

"So why did you bring me back from the dead?" Mr. Holmes asked. He had obviously grown more comfortable in the atmosphere that was steadily becoming less awkward.

"Like I said, I need your help."

"Why bring us both back together then?" Dr. Watson asked. "You could've just dealt with Sherlock alone and leave me out of this."

"Alone, you are both strong in your own ways, but together you are practically invincible. I mean I could ask some of the people from my own team but that wouldn't work."

"Why wouldn't it?" Dr. Watson asked.

"You two work better together than my own teams who have been working together for five plus years." I went over to the hook where I had hung my coat up and grabbed it. "You work like a well-oiled machine, and I need that for the complexity of this case." I shrugged my coat on a buttoned it up.

"So we work together well?" Dr. Watson asked.

"You two work together very well. And I like that." I smiled at the two of them completely disregarding the third person in the room. "I promise that if you help me with this, you don't have to worry about any psychopathic serial killer chasing after you under my command."

I walked out of the room happy about how all of this was playing out so far.

_You have them right where you want them._

**Page Line (John)**

**Sunday, November 17, 2013**

**9:30 AM**

"Are you really going to trust him after all that he put you through?" Mary asked. She was still pretty steamed after last night and refused to let me into the bedroom forcing me to sleep on the couch.

"He's my best friend. I'll trust him with my life." I said grabbing my coat. I picked up a stack of newspapers that had things circled or highlighted that I thought Sherlock would be interested in. One that I think that he'll enjoy especially is the closed door murder with two dead women who, according to the police report, knew nothing of each other.

She grabbed my arm. "Why do you trust him?" She asked.

"I can't explain it. Just trust me." I started my way out of the front door when she shouted out behind me.

"What if I don't want to?"

**Page Line **

**10:35 AM**

It took me a little longer than usual to get to Baker Street because I was still thinking over Mary's words from earlier. _'What if I don't want to?'_ Those words haunted me. I didn't know what to expect because she was the best thing that had happened to me over the past year. I didn't want to lose her and I certainly didn't want to lose Sherlock again.

I knocked on the door to 221 B and waited for Mrs. Hudson to open it.

"Oh, it's amazing John!" She threw her arms around my neck and I noticed that she had been snivelling a little.

"Are you alright Mrs. Hudson?" She pulled herself away from me and had smiled.

"He's back. He's really here!" She wrapped her arms around me again. "Sherlock, John's here!" She shouted up the steps.

I started to walk up the steps I haven't even dared to look at when I came to visit Mrs. Hudson every Saturday afternoon.

"Wait, John." She whispered my name and waved me over. "He's in a bit of a mood; Mycroft is here." I nodded my head in a thank you for the warning and had continued my walk up the steps.

I didn't know exactly what to expect when I reached the top of the stairs, but it looked surprisingly normal. Sherlock was plucking at a new violin (this one was in black), Mycroft was sitting directly across from him and Esmeralda was sitting on the couch going through a binder.

"John, it's been a while hasn't it?" Mycroft had said. To be completely honest, I had just seen him about an engagement ring for Mary. I was planning on proposing, but the way that things are working out now, it was going to be difficult.

"Yeah, it's been quite a while." Mycroft nodded his head and a played with his umbrella.

"So, what's going on here? Is it some kind of meeting?" I joked.

"Yes, it's a meeting of the smartest people that I know. We're just waiting for Detective Inspector Lestrade right now."

"Why?" I asked. "Does he know about…?" I trailed off; the rest of the question had gone unspoken. We all knew what I was talking about.

"First, we need a little police assistance; looking yourself takes up too much time. Second, he has no idea." Esmeralda had said typing on her laptop. I had sat down on the couch right next to her and looked over at the screen. It was rude, but I wanted to know what I was needed for. "And what better way the Detective Inspector should find out?" The doorbell rang and she looked towards the open door. "He has extraordinary timing."

**Page Line (Greg Lestrade)**

**The Same Day**

**10:40 AM**

I forgot how loudly that step creaked.

Mrs. Hudson had just let me into the flat and I was walking up the stairs to…his flat. I have idea why John wanted me to meet him here considering that he hadn't been upstairs since Sherlock…fell.

I refuse to say commit suicide because it seems too cowardly. He would never do anything like that, he was too smart.

"John!" I shouted. "Are you there?" I continued my way up the steps and stopped at the open door. It seemed so normal. When I didn't get a response I was going to turn around when I heard a voice. I heard a _female_ voice.

"Good Morning Detective Inspector, we've been waiting for you." I turned and saw a girl no more than twenty-five staring at me.

"Hello?"

**Page Line **

"You expect me to believe your story?" I asked incredulously. "That's far-fetched, even for Sherlock Holmes!" I had been sitting on the couch until I saw Sherlock come from inside the kitchen. The girl (Esmeralda my mind corrected) had told me what had happened to Sherlock all those months ago.

"But it's not too far-fetched for the agency that I work for. We've had a lot of more complicated and…bizarre requests than the one that we had to offer Mr. Holmes."

"What exactly is this agency? Is what you're doing even legal?" I asked. I was here as a friend, but I was willing to use my influence as a police officer.

"It doesn't have a name. A lot of people don't even know that we exist, and we intend to keep it that way."

"Yeah, but is it legal?" I insisted. She reminded me of Sherlock a lot: the way she spoke, like she was better than you, the way that she held her self, even the way that she spoke in riddles.

"It depends on what you define as being 'legal'." She smirked and looked at Mycroft. "I need your help with getting records on both Irene Adler and James Moriarty." He nodded his head.

"Why?" John asked.

"We need to know if there was some sort of connection between the two of them; if they ever crossed paths anywhere at any given time." She supplied.

"Why do you need me then?" I asked. The initial shock had worn off a few moments ago and was replaced with a tentative form of acceptance.

"I need the law somewhat on my side. Having the big, scary Detective Inspector in my corner can make even my enemies shake in their boots." She gave me that smirk again, like she was had told a joke that we didn't get the punch line to.

"Why bring me back from the dead then? If all you really needed was Mycroft and Lestrade, why am I here?" Sherlock asked. He was fiddling with his violin again.

"Mr. Holmes, you are worth more than what you give yourself credit for. Your head alone is worth more than any human life. I need you as an ally, you're very useful."

"I'm useful? To whom am I useful?"

"You are useful to me. I need you Mr. Holmes. That's why I had to save you: to protect you. You are a powerful ally; but an even more dangerous enemy. I need you on my side for reassurance."

Sherlock had quirked an eyebrow at the end of her statement. "Why do you need reassurance? Whatever…company you are working for should be able to protect you, you said so yourself."

"The first part of my job is not to trust anybody that I don't bring on board myself. You're also smart enough to know where the weak links in our defences are and take us all down one by one."

"You give me more credit than what is necessary."

"You give yourself less credit than what is necessary."

Sherlock looked praised as he sat back into the chair.

"So you need Sherlock and John…" I asked her wanting her to finish the sentence.

"I need them to be my field agents." She said it like it was the simplest thing in the world; like it was something that she said every day.

**Page Line (Mycroft Holmes)**

**The Same Day**

**11 AM**

"Do you need me to tell the public about the walking dead?" I asked her. I have to say that her plan was completely fool-proof and very amazing. It sounded like something that Sherlock would dream up.

"That would be lovely Mycroft. I need to start talking to my people about their security." Esmeralda said. She had surprised me; she was a force to be reckoned with.

Her talk about Sherlock being worth more is very true. I heard many whispered conversations that named my brother in passing after his "death". She has obviously done her homework and knows what she is talking about.

"What about my people?" I asked. I started to stand up. I needed to get a lot accomplished for the upcoming week.

"You have cameras; we need to see the streets." She stood up right next to me. "Besides, you would have done it even if I said no." I gave her a small smile.

"Good afternoon Sherlock; don't agitate the nice woman, she actually likes you." I left the four of them in the flat so that they could finish brainstorming whatever plan they were going to come up with. I on the other hand had a lot to do to prepare London for the return of the world's only Consulting Detective.

And if I have to bring down a few people in the process, so be it.

**Page Line (Esmeralda)**

**Monday, November 18, 2013**

**11 AM**

Standing outside Scotland Yard isn't as fun as it sounds. I had been waiting for Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson for a few minutes now, and it never occurred to me that Britain can be this cold. Seriously, it was freezing outside. I was just about to walk in and warm up for a bit when a cab pulled up to the curb.

Mr. Holmes had gotten out of the car at first and was wearing a blank expression. Dr. Watson on the other hand had a worried expression on his face, like he was afraid that Mr. Holmes was going to get stoned the minute that he had walked into the building.

"Good morning Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson." I gave them a warm smile, something that completely contradicted my body temperature.

"Good morning Esmeralda. I hope haven't been out here for a while?" Mr. Holmes asked. I studied his face. He looked like he hadn't slept very well the night before. There were bags under his eyes and they were lightly rimmed red as if he had been rubbing them.

"No actually." That was a lie. "I don't mind the cold. It wakes me up than a cup of coffee." That part was true, although I'm going to have serious two o'clock feeling later today.

"How are we going to do this? We're just going to waltz right in?" Dr. Watson asked. So that's what he was so scared of. I had always known that he was concerned about what people thought of him and Mr. Holmes.

"You don't need to worry you're blonde little head Dr. Watson, I have everything taken care of." Thinking about it later, it sounded a little condescending to me. "You've done enough stressing for both you and Mr. Holmes."

I walked towards the doors at the front of the building and held them open for Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes. Grabbing my mobile phone, I sent a very, but to the point text:

_Esmeralda: Make sure Ms. Donovan and Mr. Anderson are within sighting range._

It's going to be a zoo in a few minutes.

**Page Line**

This has gotten waaaaaaaaayyyyyy to long and I need to cut it off right here. There will be a part 2 because I have it mapped out but still need to do a little…fluffing.

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